So, it is a VERY long story, but I just got handed back 1500 bucks for my laptop in refunds. Anybody have any suggestions on laptops? I want a gaming rig that sports a nice high-end graphics card, some solid amount of RAM, and a BluRay drive. I'm not adverse to any particular brand - I just want something I can trust. I can add a few hundred to that 1500 for a really high end system, so recommend away...

Here are a few I've been looking at. I'll keep adding as I find ones that wow me:

I highly recommend the G74SX. I have one and have not been disappointed with it. It runs Skyrim quite well. You can't max AA and shadows, but with FXAA on, high shadows and everything else maxed it ran very well. BF3 did well on it too. If you want to run everything on max settings, you won't like the G74, but it holds it's own well and will play anything out there on high at least with good frame rates. It's also nice and quiet and stays very cool. My only gripe was the screen, but I am really picky. It has a blue tint to it that drove me nuts, but no one else who saw or used my laptop seemed to notice.

However, the G75 is coming soon, as are new laptops for MSI. The G75 will have a 660M in it with the new Ivy Bridge processors and 12GB RAM. I have not heard any definite hardware specs on the new MSI laptops. Unfortunately, based on early testing, the G75 won't be a major upgrade from the G74 but I think it would still be a good idea to wait because I am sure the G74 will drop in price.

Well, the answer to this question ended up being.....NONE of them! I ended up ordering the MSI GT780DXR-446US but while it was in transit, the newer laptops came out with more RAM, more and faster HDDs, better graphics cards, and are the same damned price. So....now I wait until the end of the month for the Ivy Bridge based laptops to ship. Wheeeeee technology!

The RAID0 SSDs push the throughput to 1.9Gbps for the hard drive read/write. That's INSANE, and awesome. This is a full desktop replacement - exactly what I had in mind. Glad I could convince MSI for some special pricing if I reviewed it!

I have no real need for a giant heavy desktop replacement but after reading the specs you posted I almost pulled the trigger on one of these. I had to force myself to stop trying to justify getting one lol. But now I can't stop thinking about it. I should probably avoid reading any review you do, unless it turns out you hate it

I have no real need for a giant heavy desktop replacement but after reading the specs you posted I almost pulled the trigger on one of these. I had to force myself to stop trying to justify getting one lol. But now I can't stop thinking about it. I should probably avoid reading any review you do, unless it turns out you hate it

I absolutely LOVE this thing. I was playing D3 (for the short time it was up) connected to my 74" Plasma, running everything on max. What's not to love?

I have no real need for a giant heavy desktop replacement but after reading the specs you posted I almost pulled the trigger on one of these. I had to force myself to stop trying to justify getting one lol. But now I can't stop thinking about it. I should probably avoid reading any review you do, unless it turns out you hate it

I absolutely LOVE this thing. I was playing D3 (for the short time it was up) connected to my 74" Plasma, running everything on max. What's not to love?